Tangled Character
by Call Me Bree the Blonde
Summary: Most of the protagonists of the Harvest Moon games are of unknown origin and quite happy-go-lucky, but what if a convict came along? A convict with an odd ability, no less, and an even more unusual heredity? This fan-fiction shows how they would handle the Harvest Moon world and how they would change because of it. Two Towns setting-starring Cam, Vaughn, and an original character.
1. A Forged Beginning

I've been reading a lot of Fan-Fictions so I can better figure out how this whole thing works, and something that I keep seeing (and enjoy) is to have an author's note beforehand about the story, so I'll try to make a point to do so! Also, I prefer to write in first-person perspective, for this particular one I will stick with Ms. Convict (true name yet to be revealed.) Just to add a bit more, I'll write a short quip of a different character's thoughts/actions sometime during the chapter in _italics _at the end.

Updates might take a bit longer since I'm going to be writing it simultaneously with a Sonic-the-Hedgehog-world story. They are both going to be lengthy since only tidbits of the main plot will be given at a time, the main focus being on character interaction and development.

You should know that I start a story with only a vague idea where I want to go with it, so I may update chapters with new content depending. Enjoy! C=

* * *

It always took a little while to get used to the proportions belonging to the newest form Uncle gives me, but I was finding this one most favorable. Upon my request, I now had hair to match his—as long and fire-like as the sun's rays along with eyes and skin hardy enough to be under the sky's stare for hours on end, no matter the weather. For all intents and purposes, it was a wonderful body to be in, even if my left hand…

_Better go scavenge some plums,_ I quickly interrupt my own thoughts, _I can't rely on—_I discontinue the sentence with a slap to my own face; surely what I had done hadn't disturbed me _that_much right? So much so that I couldn't stop my own mind from reminding me? I had stolen many things before with the guidance of my odd sensory ability—a few arguably more valuable. The ownership of my Clydesdale, Norfork, and the admirable carriage he pulled were _certainly_ more precious than a tired old man's eye… _although they can't bring the comfort of looking into the first fatherly gaze I'd ever known._

This is ridiculous! I just need some blood flow to circulate these thoughts out of my head, that's all. Grabbing Norfork by the mane, I pull myself onto his bare back and set us off at a strong gallop along the mountain trail, making the carriage creak behind the dust Norfork kicked up.

It was all well and good to feel the breeze blow away any thought until I noticed that my Clydesdale had defaulted the same route where I had first met him and his daughter . . . and had taken to traveling together down countless times.

"Damn it! I gotta get out of here!" Dealing with this atypical feeling of regret was too foreign for me adapt to; and thus, deal with. I'll ditch Norfork and the carriage as well, just not right now—aught as well travel in comfort.

Norfork whinnies in protest as I yank his mane to turn him around, not liking being told where to direct himself, but set off at a fast trot anyways. The nice thing about Norfork was that, although he had some pride issues, he was far more intelligent than any other of his kind that I had met and had an infallible sense of duty to perform well, no matter the situation. _I'll have to be sure to leave him at a nice home, one where they can use him even better from the one I took him from._I analyze my own emotions for a moment. _At least I don't feel any regret about taking Norfork away from someone's life to take him into my own—_

"Oh no! You do not . . . !"

A stranger's voice is all that I hear before my world spins around me, an empty blue and a fuzzy green spinning, competing for the focus of my vision. It was long enough of a sensation that I had time to realize that I was rolling down the mountain, until there was a loud thud—my body slammed against a tree.

Sitting up slowly, I examine my own body. I wasn't even cut, despite hitting a few fallen branches on my trip—I make a mental note to thank Uncle nest time I come across him—but my clothes were a different matter. No amount of laundry-mat treatment could bring back their ability to be presentable.

"Is someone there hurt?!" The voice was unmistakably familiar—what's Ina doing in this obscure area of the mountain?!

I quickly collect my bearings; somehow, my rolling had placed me at the base of the pond that was below the festival cliff—with the lack of foliage, the only way I may have hide myself would be to jump into the pond and hold my breath, but it was much too clear for that.

"Are you alright?" Rutger, the mayor of Bluebell, reached me before Ina did.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I stand up, noticing too late that my savaged clothes showed an indecent amount of skin.

"Ah. . ." He blushed furiously, then quickly turned around to the path leading up to our location. "Ina, come quickly . . . !"

She emerged from a nearby tuft of forest—they must have split up to look for the source of the noise, but she only had to glance at Rutger and I in order to comprehend the situation. "You choose the worst times to be bashful, Rutger!" Ina unfastened a strap on the long red headdress that she was wearing, and it along with a river of dark brown hair came loose. "Here, you can wear this as a sun dress until you find some decent clothes."

Nodding my thanks, I pull it over me. It only goes down to my mid-thigh, and doesn't have a very flattering fit, but who's to complain? "Have you seen a horse and carriage around here?" I ask the pair of them.

"I did." Rutger grinned, "The carriage isn't too far from here, and there are some tracks leading to my lovely village of Bluebell."

_Thank Sephia, Ina would have recognized Norfork and that would lead to some awkward questions. . ._

"Speaking of which," Rutger continued, "could you be the farmer we were told about that would be moving into the area?"

_I've heard people talking about this when I was in Konohana! Ought as well play along until I can book it._I put the most valid countenance for the allotted situation, "Ah, yes!" I give an embarrassed grin, "Sorry I didn't say so right away, I'm Noelle Cecile. I know that I was supposed to come next spring, but my situation changed. . . I hope that's okay?"

"It should be, but he," she jerked her head to indicate Rutger in a tense, disapproving way that matched her speaking tone, "and I have had yet to decide upon where you should live."

"Haven't we already?!" Rutger flared up at once, "I've told you, Ina, that we have already prepared a wonderful story-book home and yard for Noelle!"

_This queer name would take some getting used to. . ._

"And I have countered you, _Rutger_, on that point as we have taken the same action necessary for Ms. Cecile to come enjoy our elegant village!"

Rutger turns to me sharply, "you seem to be a worldly person, Noelle, so I'm sure that you would appreciate our modern, animal-loving lifestyle at Bluebell FAR more than the stale routine of plant-life that Konohana follows."

"How _dare_you?! How could Bluebell have _anything_on my darling Konahana?! All you have to do is sample you inferior cooking compared to ours to understand the difference in quality!"

"I wouldn't even feed your rubbish cooking to our chickens! Do you—"

"Please stop fighting. . ." I speak quietly and fake a little whimper—from my experience people tend to trust those who seem vulnerable faster than they do capable ones.

"Now see how you've upset her!" Ina snarls at her rival, then comes over to comfort the sad, sweet girl I'm posing as, putting her hand on my back and leading me along a path to Konohana. "I'm sure we can find something for you to wear at my place. . ."

"How _I've _upset her?" Rutger was indignant. "I'm not the one carrying off Noelle towards their village when she might be too confused to think about the decision clearly."

"Hmph, fine then. What do you think, Noelle?"

I quickly poked my eyes to make them water, as if in distress. "Well. . . I really appreciate your giving me this here headpiece. . ." _Damn it! I hate to use the same lie twice, but I don't have time to think of another one that can justify me staying away from Konohana without good reason._ ". . . but I have this weird allergy that's related to some kind of plant, I don't know which one, but it can be a bit dangerous for me. . . sorry. . ."

Rutger gave a triumphant grin, "—And there you have it, Ina!"

"We have a doctor in our village," Ina tried to sound motherly rather than competitive, but it was all too clear that she would despise the idea of losing custody of me over to Rutger, "You would be able to be treated if the slightest issue came up. It would be far safer for you; after all, it's not as if Bluebell doesn't have their own plants for feed and such."

_Ina was always inconveniently sharp, and curious, wanting to get to know me during my brief stay at Konohana . . ._ I sneak a glance at Rutger to see if he could find an argument for me, best not to seem too acute, but his debilitated demeanor didn't give any sign of one.

"I really am sorry, but I'm quite sure it has nothing to do with animals . . . I lived on a ranch before now with no problems. I wouldn't have accepted the invitation to come here at all if I was in question about whether I could handle taking care of livestock or not."

Ina sighed, defeated. "Fine then. As long as you know that you can move to Konohana at any time, the house will always be there, even if no one is living in it."

"Thank you!" I smile towards her, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Anyways, I'll have to go back sometime to return this to you, right?"

"Oh, very true! Dr. Ayame can give you a tour when you stop by; I'm sure that your mind will change once you've had a look around."

"Ehem," Rutger coughed as a means of interruption, "We'd best be on our way, Noelle, it'll be dark before long, and we still need to find your horse."

"Ah, you're right!" I make a start, and wave to Ina, "I'll be seeing you!"

She gives a sharp nod, and we part ways.

* * *

How unusual_, I brew on the condition that was keeping Noelle from joining Konohana, _the girl Mako was looking after had a similar issue . . . I wonder if Reina found a cure before the girl was stolen that unfortunate night—I'll have to ask her once I get back to Konohana.


	2. Arrangements for Much-Needed Practice

Well, now that the die is cast and all that so I guess I have to start thinking about how I'm going to incorporate all of the Two Towns characters into "Noelle's" life . . . _all_ of them . . . without letting writing fall even more lame than usual . . . YAY LIFE!

* * *

Just kidding (kinda.) It will be nice practice to give them all back stories and more complex personalities than in the games, you know, where they say _nearly the same thing every day until you __**finally **__manage to raise their flower level! (_Takes some deep breaths, attempting to sooth the frustration a "demanding" game like Harvest Moon provides.) At least I have an easier job this chapter with trying to depict "Noelle" being would too tightly with the thought that she's out of practice. That and looking up a lot of details about the game—I never got around to even completing the first year because Fire Emblem: Awakening came out shortly after I started playing ='] Maybe writing this Fan-Fiction can be my way of paying tribute to it? =D

Rutger and I soon found that Norfork had taken the straightest possible route towards Bluebell, no matter the amount of foliage in his way. He being such a powerful Clydesdale, it gave us a nice path to tread through—quite handy as even with the fastener, my make-shift sundress kept threatening to slip and Rutger had to rely on his cane for transportation.

_This will also give me a clean, but unknown path that I can take when I book out of here. After I collect stamina, supplies, and intelligence, I'll have Norfork whisk me away. No point in collecting the carriage, I was just going to ditch that anyways, but I should take a trip back for the money and food inside of it. The problem is Norfork . . . I'm having second thoughts about leaving him—reminder he may be, but he sure can travel! And I need to book it out of—_

"I am sorry for letting Ina stir me up like that." Rutger spoke suddenly, reminding me that I shouldn't think too strongly about my plan just now—my face tended to show what I was thinking. "The rivalry of our towns has lasted for generations, and it's a particularly tense time right now, but that's still no excuse to get worked up in front of a newcomer." He shakes his head (and rather large nose) sadly.

"It's alright, everyone has a few things that lights their fire." I say as the character I decided to adapt during the duration of this. He sighs and, figuring that if I'm going to act, I ought to do it well, add in a tone of surprise, "Oh my, I hope that I'm not the cause for it being a 'tense time'?"

"Don't you go and concern yourself about that! If it wasn't this with Ina it would be something else! And there's the cooking contests to schedule—it's always difficult in Summer because we have festivals within the week of each other at the end of the season." Rutger takes a deep breath, "Please excuse me. . . I really shouldn't be venting like this to someone I just met."

"Don't worry about it!" –_It gave me time confirm my cover story with myself._"So where exactly will I be living?"

This question certainly perked him up. "The location is great—it is a little way from town, so you'll have plenty of privacy, but close enough that you can socialize into the town easily and have great access to any shops that you need!" Weirdly, his smile and tone became a bit dull, like he was preoccupied, "As to the property itself, our carpenter, Eileen, really outdid herself with this job! Of course it's not . . ." Rutger paused to collect his words, "not _completely_ done, with your early arrival and all, but all of the buildings are completely usable."

He put his hand into his pocket, making me twitch—horrible things could be hidden in pockets. I mentally scold myself for being shakable—being rusty was more trouble to oil away than I'd hoped. "Are there pastures where I can start raising animals right away?" I had tried to say something quickly to cover my internal strife, but the carelessness of the statement only leads to more.

_Dammit! I'm supposed to come off as happily stupid! Should have said something like "What do you mean '_all' _the buildings?!" with wide eyes and a grin. Must be getting rusty from . . . anyways, gotta remember to keep the details of this character from getting too tangled, that's always helped me stay convincing, but I can't overthink it either . . . well, I'll be here for such a short amount of time that it hardly matters, aught as well just use it for practice._

Rutger eyed me in an unsettled way, confirming that I out of practice with keeping myself simple, but carried on, "Yes, they're not very big, yet, but there's enough space that a calf and chick are currently enjoying them."

"Oh how cute!"

Rutger smiled and nodded, "They'll help you get started when they grow up, which should be in about a week. Until then, you can get accustomed to your new house. It doesn't have any walls, but I'm sure Diego and Enrique have some folding walls available to sell."

"Oh. . ."

"Is something the matter?"

I stop walking and scuff my foot across the ground. "Well, not terribly, it's just that, due to the situation that necessitated me to come so early, I don't have very much money. . ." _Lie—the carriage has about 30,000 G hidden in the seams._

He chortles, "That's not a problem! I'll just set you up with a loan! I'll be taking 10% profit of everything you ship until it's all paid, but you don't have a problem with that?"

"No, of course not!" I direct a beam of a smile to him, "Thank you so much!"

"I expect that's why you were looking so sullen earlier?"

_Next time I'll ask Uncle if he can make my face__not_ completely _give away_ _what I'm thinking._"Well, that, and I'm quite tired . . ."_At least I can fake yawning._

"Completely understandable, but shall we stop by the General store quickly? I'm sure you'd like some new clothes."

"That would be lovely! . . .but—"

"Don't worry, I'll cover the cost. It wouldn't be right if my townsfolk walked around look shabby!"

"Why, thank you," I grin at him.

* * *

_I nervously put my hand in my pocket and twist my fingers together fretfully. Not _completely _I had said, like the complete absence of any walls, furbishing, windows, air conditioning, and just about everything a house could need was a quick and easy job to install. Thank Sephia that the plumbing was already in! As soon as we reached the store I'll find a reason to slip away and gather some of the villagers to help touch it up . . . hopefully Ina will never know about this last rush._

"_Are there pastures where I can start raising animals right away?" I try to shake my unease out of my face about what a hard job it will be to make that hallow square livable when I answer her question._


	3. Core Orientation

Chapter 3! Having had more of a chance to dip my feet into the Fan-Fiction river has made me realize that it's taken wa~y too long to get this chapter out, sorry . . . I hope this special appearance of one of the most loved Harvest Moon characters makes up for it ;]

* * *

The rest of the walk into Bluebell passes without either Rutger or I speaking anything beyond the likes of "Look out for that root" or "Do I smell animal dung?" This was all for the better as it gave a chance to both analyze and start neutralizing my own edginess. Most unfortunately for me, this was all for naught once we reached the cobblestone entrance to the town.

Vaughn. The man from whom I had stolen Norfork from was all but ten strides far from us, along with the Clydesdale himself. He had woven his incompletely gloved left hand into Norfork's mane as he stared, enraptured, into the stallion's eyes with a sharp intensity. It was undeniable that they had recognized each other—Norfork now leaned over to nip at Vaughn's ear, a sign of affection that he never had graced me with. Were his facial muscles not stiff with lack of use, I'm sure that Vaughn would have smiled; instead, he showed his warmth towards Norfork by patting his neck with his left hand, causing a glint of metal from his ring finger to flash.

Rutger had the same vantage point as I, but while we were close in proximity, there was a great distance to our feelings about the pair.

"Ah, Vaughn! We didn't expect you until Tuesday!" The mayor amiably inquires of him. Vaughn doesn't seem too bothered that the mayor is paying him attention, as all of his is directed at Norfork. Rutger picks up the slack, "It can't have been that you wanted to greet our newest resident—the news hasn't settled onto people's ears to spread yet, and even if it had you aren't the type to, well…" he lets his sentence decrescendo into silence.

Vaughn pet Norfork a little while more, completely unfazed by the silence seemed to be making Rutger's skin prick from the awkwardness. It was this mutual comfort in quiet that had helped me get close to him.

"Don't mind him Noelle, Vaughn has always been more comfortable being withdrawing himself from people, save for business matters."

_Unless their names are Mirabelle, Julia, or what he knew my by—Lucile._"It's not a problem." I smile, then, deciding that the best path would be one of directness, I walk up to Vaughn's side and stroke the Clydesdale. "Fine animal, isn't he? Great _core orientation_, too. But the woman I got him from wouldn't tell me anything about him or herself except his name." I pause to look over at Vaughn, pleased to see his familiar violet eyes, normally so frigid, grow candescent with emotion and curiosity, though keeping his thoughts silent.

It was selfish of me to reference personal information to Vaughn, but for some reason I just couldn't leave it unsaid, especially when Rutger may think this natural enough of an chat.

The phrase "core orientation" was his way of describing how he could tell animals so easily apart from each other and why he so diligently avoided people.

He once told me as we sat on a twilight-lit hill after a day of labor, that when he looked at anything, he wouldn't focus on the outside, as it is so easily changed and, thus, unreliable, but rather into the eyes, since the substance behind them were more identifying and enduring. Vaughn continued to explain that when he focused onto a person's eyes as they talked, all of their faults and immoralities became exposed "like cracks in a mirror." This compared to the purity of any animal was often too contaminated to ever want to exploit more of.

I had scooted closer to him and rest my head on his shoulder and asked, "Why then can you tolerate my company? Mirabelle and Julia each had a golden heart as bright as any summer's day, but not I."

"Mirabelle and Julia have their own share of imperfections, but they don't repel me. The same suits more people than you might expect, Lucile, but I prefer the quiet more than the jostle of company." He chortled softly, and then looked up to the rising moon, "At least I think that's the base of it. I'd rather not over examine things around me. It gets too complicated." I sat up enough so that I could make eye contact—he still had my question to answer.

Vaughn quickly turned his eyes away, as he always did when I looked into them, and pulled me back to his torso. "If you value my happiness," he seemed to address the moon in far too quiet of a whisper, "do not ask me that again." So I decided that I never would . . . _or at least, Lucile never did. Noelle, though, might slide it in, somehow._

"…and, what is his name?" Vaughn ceased stroking the Clydesdale to examine me, looking into my eyes longer than he ever did Lucile's, but probably only because he noticed their resemblance to each other.

"Norfork." I can't help a very uncharacteristic smile spread across my face. _Should really stop enjoying this interaction so much… _

This familiar grin finally makes him turn his head. "And could you recall… what this woman that sold you Norfork looked like?" He drags his hat lower to his face, and again I caught that glint from his ring finger, reminding me of my surroundings and Rutger's proximity.

"'Course!" I slap myself back into character, "She did have distinctive coloring unlike any I'd seen. Carmel skin, but still with long blonde hair pulled into a loose 'tail and vivid green eyes. Weird, aye? But they looked too natural to be faked."

"And did she—" He cut off at Rutger's easy approach up to us.

Rutger being an observant man, spoke bearing the situation in mind, "I'm sure you noticed that Noelle here has had a hard journey," he wry smiled and motioned to my tattered clothing covered by the make-shift sundress. "I'm sure she's very tired, but has consented to go with me to the general store to pick up some clothing and supplies before tucking in for a nap. If you're still in the area and Noelle doesn't have any objections, mayhap you could drop by around. . ."

"Would 19:00 be alright with you?" I address Vaughn. He gives another curt nod. It humored me that he would not have humored an invitation from anyone else, but I may have said 4:00 tomorrow and he would have accepted for Lucile.

"Well then, Noelle and I must make our exit."

Vaughn meets my eye again as Rutger starts to hurry me and Norfork off, "Until later, then . . . _Noelle._"

* * *

"_Until later, then . . . _Noelle_." She nodded with that __**same damn look **__in her eyes! The same look that had haunted me throughout our talk and that Lucile had always worn, no matter how she pretended to act. I twist my wedding ring, thinking of her—she always had left such an impression on anyone that met her, and the closer they got to her, the deeper the imprint of the aura she projected—despite being insincere. This Noelle—she had known Lucile, known her as she truly was. There was no other way that Noelle could have had __**those**__ eyes, __**that**__ "_core orientation_," as she herself had said . . ._But who was she to have Lucile feel like she didn't have to put on an act around? Even when we were alone she wouldn't . . ._ I turn up my head to watch Noelle walk on with the Mayor—_she even has a little of the same walk that Lucile did.

_The next, I check my watch, for the next four hours she would be inaccessible, as would be any feelings resembling peace, but that wasn't anything new. _May as well try and find try to find a pond—should pay homage to Sephia for leading me this far.


	4. Variascience

I'm so happy! Writing this has become easier (well, unless my kid sisters are around) and **really **enjoyable! =D I'm almost like, psh, who needs school, soccer, band, or whatever else I have going on! I have my own laptop that I can write in! Muahaha. I'm a tad proud of myself for the way I wrote the _italics _section last time . . . the way it started as the main chapter ended . . . must try to slide that in more often . . . not this chapter though because it's mainly monologue, both "Noelle's" and Cam's, and bombing some information into the story =3

Notes about this here chapter—last time we ran into Vaughn, shaking "Noelle" up, but after she collected herself, she has a better grip on how she wants to act. Review and tell me how successful I was in relaying that . . . ? Please? I also like P.M.'s =]

Oh yea, but something that occurred to me was that the cussing might bother some people. I try to keep it classy by only using the most literal one (damn) but I can change it to "curses" if it really troubles anyone—they mean basically the same thing anyway.

**After finishing** Dam—I mean—curses! That was a long postlude. . .

"It may not be very correct of me, not being very familiar with Vaughn's personal goings, but I've become rather curious about his connection to this Flavia person…" Rutger mused as we passed under Bluebell's entrance arc.

"I suppose as Mayor, you're allowed a spot of eavesdropping." I chortle playfully while memorizing the layout of Bluebell—easily accomplished as the buildings created a circumference about the decidedly round main square with a fountain as the focal point.

His prominent nose turn pink at the edges, "Wha—well . . . It is my duty to ensure tranquility to the inhabitants—a tasking job if I am ill-informed."

"Oh, I was just teasin' with ya," At the base of an elaborately decorated hut, a sign read "_Enrique and Diego's General Store—all you can want and more!_" "So this here's the place?"

"Right you are. Erm, the store's layout isn't the most . . . organized, so be careful to watch your step." Rutger politely held apart the fabric door for my entry.

"Chehehe, don't worry, I'll do my best not to break anything you need pay for."

The shop's interior certainly did lack an organized plan, or any plan at all for that matter. The entirety of the saleable merchandise were stacked and crisscrossed together starting at a far wall, then declining in height until meeting a long rectangle of wood that assumedly served a desk. Lanterns illuminated this area, but they did not reach to the space behind the desk. _I'd put money on it being the storage and living area. I'll pay it a visit before I check out of Bluebell._

"Don't be shy now about things you want." Rutger told modest Noelle, "Don't think of the purchases as coming out of my pocket, you'll pay me out of your shipments until the balance is even."

"I'll remember that, thanks." I stroll about the clutter with my hands together on the small of my back, trying to find the independent identities of the mismatched objects.

Rutger had been watching my movements. "It's quite a mess in here, isn't it? I think I'll go into town and see if I can find Diego or Enrique to help find what we need."

_He feels comfortable enough to leave me in the store alone . . . muahaha. _"Yeah, that'll be good. I'll do my best not to drown in the rubble while you're gone."

Rutger chortled and left, freeing me to go about searching in my usual way—that is, with my _variascience._ It is an oddly unique ability of mine that I keep from everyone but Uncle, but that's only because he would find out anyway, being the Harvest God and all that. I would have liked to keep it unknown to any soul but my own, a hidden ace, but Uncle was indispensably useful for honing my variascience. He insisted on simple things, like helping me find a good title for it (and it's pronunciation: vay-re-ah-see-ence) and to spend half-hour periods just thinking about how it felt, worked, affected things, the works, as to lay a good ground work for when I actually utilize it.

Variascience, in essence, enabled me to sense anything that would be useful in the future—person, place, or object, regardless of how trivial or unobtainable it was. As my "training" with Uncle reached its final stages, he placed me in increasingly dangerous situations, some life threatening, and I would have to use variascience under pressure to struggle my way out of. Uncle was just as oblivious to discomfort as I was in these situations; I welcomed the challenge because the feeling of growth that resulted was my pride and joy. It was upon the completion of all of his tests that I left the mountain to do his bidding.

"His bidding" is too long of a tale to reflect upon now, not when I needed to take advantage of being alone among the piles potential usefulness. A power cord had caught my attention, and I followed it a large cold storage unit, half hidden behind some room dividers. I took my shimmering snow-like left hand out of its glove and felt out the air, and was astonished to feel **four **conflicting fields—just in this corner of the store! _I won't be able to fit much inside of these clothes . . . dammit. . . Rutger better live up to his offer! No way am I leaving without all of my varia. _If I didn't take things that would put me at an advantage, I would be hindered in some way or another, so it is my policy to take whatever varia presented itself to me—risk and consequences irrelevant.

The cold storage didn't have a lock (though it wouldn't have mattered if it did) and I perused the objects with my hand. A nutritious vegetable soup and preserved bouquet of flowers were discovered to be taking up half of the field, so I removed them to a safe place away from the area so I could focus on the remaining two. Soon I found a foreign cook book with a picture of a blonde man in a purple hat on it to be the third. This varia offended my pride, I had become an exemplary cook—what did I need further instruction for!? But I shelved it into my small clothes, nevertheless. I had crouch into a froggy position to feel the fourth. How odd . . . the sensation kept coming and going, and I leaned into increasingly lopsided position until I had it narrowed. _It's just around—_

"Hello, _hello _Noelle! So sorry to, ah, be so tardy—hm?" A small dark man wearing purple halted his speech as a crashing rip sound interrupted him—me falling tripping over a sewing box and bulleting through the divider.

"Oh, dear, look to me and say you're alright, yeah?" I looked up to match a face with the second foreign voice, but instead was treated to a bright flash.

"No. . . I-I think I'm hallucinating." I shake my head and smile at them, before hurriedly pulling the glove back onto my hand out of sight and raising myself from the hole and brushing the bits of cloth away. "But—bother! Right after I told you I wouldn't break anything. . ." I look mournfully at the pair of them before realizing that Rutger was absent. "Where is Mr. Mayor?" I ask.

The second man, adoring blue and a camera answered me, "He is off being a Mayor, yeah? Lots of hard work behind the scenes, organizing people, gathering supplies—"

"Enrique!" The purple clad man cut blue-man off, looking slightly angry for a reason.

"Anyways," Enrique continued, completely unabashed and nearly without pause, "Diego will sort out everything you need here, I will take it to your home, no worries, yeah?"

"Yeah, no worries!"

_Laney often complained about the summer weather when she came back from spending the day with Georgia, but I couldn't bring myself to mind. Not when it assured that the flowers near the Howard's Café grew so loverly. But they still need my help to reach their full potential—as much as the flowers may grow upwards, they were still chained to the same spot, unable to reach any nutrition to support their growth besides what was right beneath them . . . maybe that's why we say flower "beds" instead of flower "houses" . . ._

_I look about the ring of beauty, the flowers mainly, but also the proof of how diligently Rose and I tended to this removed area of Bluebell. She took charge of the weeding, pulling them out and then separating the roots from the leaves—the latter was to be buried into the soil to restore some of the nutrition that it had stolen. For my part, I dried the flowers that were close to dying and scavenged the Café after hours for natural waste and brought it here for the flowers to enjoy a take-out meal. The tea and coffee paper sacks took more work to provide since I had to be very careful about tearing them open and spreading it onto the soil with minimal clots, but the roses liked them so much . . . Most every of my thoughts seemed to center about flowers, their conformed individuality, their natural, unearthly beauty . . . it seems right that nearly all of my actions revolve around them as well._

"_Diego! Enrique!" I could hear Rose's husband's beckoning voice and footfalls from inside the shell of flowers as clearly as if he had been next to me. Another wonderful thing about this place is that I could hear and see without being heard or seen. The flowers seemed happier after I had showed Mikael this place for him to practice his violin. "I'm afraid we have a situation. You are aware of the new rancher that was to come spring to help us defeat Konohana in the cooking festivals, Noelle?"_

_Silence—assumedly they had nodded as a response._

"_She's come early. I told Ina that we already had the house finished and ready for Noelle, or else she would have been taken to Konohana, even with this weird aller—never mind. I need both of you to round up as many villagers as you can find and put them to work on the property. If we all work together it should be inhabitable before Dirk makes his round the Bluebell."_

"_Yes, he would carry the news back to Ina and she could come take Noelle, like how she persuaded our brother."_

"_Exactly, Diego. I'll go into the mountains to find Eileen, but I don't think she would mind if you could have the villagers take the furniture she built for Noelle to the house—you can use one of Grady's carriages."_

A new friend,_ I think, no longer paying attention to their conversation and gently cut down a few flowers that finished drying. _I hope she likes flowers.


End file.
